In the Rugby World, a Draw Is ‘Captivating.’ Americans Would Have Hated It.

There was no large-scale demand for a change to the rules to ensure a winner. “We could have gone points for and against, we could have gone the number of tries, we could have gone to a penalty shootout, we could have played an extra 10 minutes,” Steve Tew, the chief executive of New Zealand Rugby, told Newstalk ZB. “Is that really how you want to determine who wins the series?”

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A lot of Americans would probably answer “Yes.”

Sports fans almost everywhere else, while perhaps not loving ties, at least seem to respect and accept them.

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Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, center, spoke to umpires at the 2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Fans booed the move to declare the game a tie after teams began running out of players in the 11th inning.Credit
John Zich/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Soccer is, of course, the world’s most popular sport, and draws are quite common. About 22 percent of games in the Premier League last season ended all square. Other sports are more extreme: More than half of games in the first…